As I look back over the past year, I think we have probably been through one of the most active times in the history of the Connecticut Conference. Think of the decisions made during and since our Annual Meeting of 2004! Votes taken by the Board of Directors are listed elsewhere, but just focus for a moment on the changes: support for same-gender civil rights; activeÑnot just passiveÑwork against the death penalty; great activity in the "God Is Still Speaking" campaign; a change to two sections- of Annual Meetings, Spring and Fall; work completed and in progress on our precious, vital Silver Lake Conference Center facility; and other changes, perhaps less dramatic, but no less significant.
For example, we now have five working regions within the Connecticut Conference, with their respective Regional Ministers. Working with serious budgetary concerns, we cut back on staffing at the Conference Center. In spite of those cuts, our staff has labored on diligently to "make things happen" as usual, and they deserve a great big "THANK YOU!" for their efforts. I have never, in my many years as an educator, seen a more willing and cooperative spirit among colleagues! Without our Conference Minister's leadership and example, of course, none of this would or could have happened!
Kate and Hugh McLean continue to show that same wonderful spirit which caused them to say, "Yes" in the first place, and we all delight in the fact that the main thrust of our Now For the Future effort is to be at Silver Lake Conference Center, for we recognize that Silver Lake is one of our most important ministries. My hope is that everyone will have a chance to meet these two dear people, for to know them is to love them!
Carole Carlson, our Associate Minister for Clergy Concerns, retired in June, and her presence will be sorely missed, for we all loved her. We hope that her retirement will be all that she wants it to be, for she deserves the very best that life has to offer!
As the hymn "Renew Your Church" says to us, "Help us, God, be renewed" and, at the end of another verse, "Help us, God, know your word." But the line which I like best, and with which I end this, my final report, is, "Teach us, God, how to love." Amen.
